Day Dreams & Lauryl Anne cruised safely into Longboat Key Marina just in time for Happy Hour. We breathed a sigh of relief, that we were welcomed, not with open arms due to social distancing, but with smiles & help with our lines from Bon Voyage. Jennifer & Tina, dock master & Service Manager greeted us in the office donning masks & gloves. Jennifer filled us in on the recent update of restrictions & cancellations. The resort shuttle was not running, the restaurant, Porto Fina here on site had just closed, no pickle ball playing and the Fitness gym & Spa were closed. The good news: the pool was open but everyone must social distance while there. Also the next day, they stopped welcoming transient boaters-we just got in under the wire-whew! We docked in a new spot for us; we bowed into slip J4. We were on the wall, not far from the office/laundry room. The setting in front of our boat was park-like, with big trees & picnic tables. The bike rack was close and on our starboard side was a platform with some guys water toys: small center console & 2 jet skis. Never saw the owner. We liked this spot a lot.
As March continued, the Pandemic events ramped up. More states are restricting movement & requiring shelter in place. Schools in all states have been closed & teachers/students/parents are attempting remote learning & home schooling. Restaurants & bars in many states have been closed except for take out. Public beaches & parks have closed. Only essential businesses are to remain open, like grocery, drug, hardware & liquor stores. It is highly recommended to wear face coverings/masks & social distance by 6 feet. The Publix has made their rows one way. There are marks on the floor keeping 6 feet apart in the checkout line. People of all ages are succumbing to the COVID 19 virus. Cases & deaths are on an upward spiral. Big cities like New York are overwhelmed in their hospitals. There are not enough beds, PPE & ventilators. Trump & his administration are a nightmare; too much to go into here. President Trump is a narcissistic, egomaniacal, self centered, lying, ignorant bully. Trump is holding daily press conferences/rallies with a host of others, some scientists & physicians but he needs to be the center of attention. In mid March, The stock market took a huge hit, down to preTrump levels. Biggest decrease since the "Big crash". A scary moment was when I walked to the Bank of America & saw the closed sign. All banks closed their lobbies & you had to use the drive thru or ATM. The Post Office stayed open. The Publix had lots of empty shelves: all paper products (tp, wipes, paper towels), detergents, cleaning supplies, pasta & sauce, beans & other canned products were not available. By the end of March, cases & deaths continued to escalate-the Federal Shelter in Place guidelines had been extended from 15 days to 30 more days. Surprisingly, the stock market did not continue its downward spiral & has actually increased. On April 1-in the U.S. there are over 200,000 cases & over 1,000 deaths from COVID19. A week later, we were up to 10,000 deaths in the U.S. & 70,000 deaths in the world.
Our friends, George & Rachel are here on their 48 Krogen, Rachel. We tried to make the best of this unique situation by still enjoying docktails but with correct social distancing. We would meet Rachel & Lauryl Anne on the lawn, bringing our own chairs, drinks & snacks. We also included Bon Voyage & Sum Escape sometimes. We reunited with our friends Ed & Diane, who usually are here on their boat for the winter but they just recently sold their boat & have moved into a condo downtown Sarasota. The beach at our resort was still open & we could bike the 3 miles there easily. The beach & Gulf water is beautiful & the swimming was glorious. Also their pool is bigger than ours & we took a few dips in that too. We took our dinghy out a few times along with Lauryl Anne & found some sandbars then we cruised out to the inlet where there is a beautiful sand beach & sand spit on Lido Beach.
We used this down time to work on boat projects. I spring cleaned the interior from top to bottom. Doug replaced a second duck valve in the discharge pump. He sanded & varnished the pilot house table he had made & it looks beautiful. We had our bottom cleaned. We hired a husband & wife team to make some sun screens for the cockpit. Doug also took time out to make this cool miniature model. We also completed our dolphin jigsaw puzzle that was a gift from Jeri.It was our anniversary, so we tried using Uber Eats & ordering from a local restaurant: Primo Ristorante. It worked really well & the food was delicious. We ended up doing that a few times.
We biked to the beach, to St Armand's Circle, to Sarasota, to Anna Maria Island, to a seafood market-Doug has 2,000 miles on his bike & I'm not too far behind. Our longest bike ride this month was 30.5 miles roundtrip to Anna Maria Island.Our weather was good, we had days of warmth & sun, heat & sun, wind, rain & coolness. A bit of everything but mostly really nice weather. We inflated the kayak & took some afternoon paddles. There are areas protected by Mangroves where all the Pelicans & cranes nest. Their droppings are killing some of the Mangroves & the fragrance in a few spots wasn't the most pleasant.
The App Zoom has become the quarantine's salvation. It is a group video chat App that allows multiple people to see & talk together over the internet. We have used it to chat with Sea Dweller, Waterford & Lauryl Anne. Not only did we celebrate our anniversary here, I celebrated my birthday. Tricia & David made it special with a socially distant cocktail hour & a baked by Tricia, Birthday cake! They are such dear friends who are very good to us!
One of our special fun group events was planned by Bon Voyage, Jon & Bonnie. They passed out kites to their friends here @ the Marina and we all took off in our dinghies out into the bay. It was a perfect day to "lets go fly a kite"! There were 10 dinghies scattered with kites up in the air. What a wonderful sight-especially relevant because we all have been tethered in for the last month due to the virus. Bon Voyage even awarded prizes; we won first place for keeping our kite up the longest & our prize was a roll of tp-Priceless.
We had said our good-byes to Rachel earlier in the month and then Lauryl Anne left us towards the end of the month to head north for their home in Rhode Island. We still had friends here & we made a few new ones too. This has been a lovely place to stay during the Shelter in Place situation. Even with the limitations, we have enjoyed our visit. Our last night, I saw the cutest small owl sitting on the wooden trash container right outside the bathroom. At first, I scared him & he scared me. Nature is aplenty here: manatees, sting rays, jumping fish, song birds, cranes & pelicans.
